Wanderlei Silva was pulled from his scheduled fight against Chael Sonnen on July 5 for UFC 175, and Vitor Belfort has officially taken his place for the epic battle after Wanderlei ‘ran’ from his drug test!

Chael Sonnen, a light heavyweight fighter for the UFC, was all set to square off against Wanderlei Silva for UFC 175 on July 5, but Wanderlei dropped out. The Brazilian mixed martial artist did not submit an application to fight in the state of Nevada in good time, and not only that, but he refused to undergo a random drug test. However, the fight must go on, and Vitor Belfort will be taking Wanderlei’s place. Was Chael and Wanderlei’s fight cursed from the start?

This isn’t the first time that Chael and Wanderlei’s bout has fallen through; they were originally scheduled to fight against each other in UFC 173 on May 24, and then later on May 31 for The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 Finale which would have taken place in Brazil and aired on the channel Globo.

On May 27, Chael told Kenny Florian on UFC Tonight that, “Wanderlei has operated his entire career under the shadow of suspicion that he was using performance-enhancing drugs.” He continued, “That clean record came to a screeching halt on Saturday night. Not only did he fail his test, he refused to take the test, and as you know a refusal is equal in the eyes of the commission to a failure.

“He ran from the test, Kenny, and I don’t mean that figuratively, I mean they came to his gym and he literally ran. He goes out of a side door, they go after him saying his name.”

Wanderlei Silva Flees From Random Drug Test

Wow. Running from a random drug test will obviously have repercussions for Wanderlei’s career moving forward. As Chael said, Wanderlei had always faced suspicion, but it hadn’t been confirmed until now.

What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Were you looking forward to seeing Chael and Wanderlei square off? What do you think will happen to Wanderlei’s career? Are you satisfied with Vitor as a replacement? Let us know!